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School, unions reach tentative deal

After more than a year of negotiations the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and its labor unions reached a tentative agreement Thursday for a three-year contract.

The contract, if approved, will be retroactive to July 1, 2012 and last through June 30, 2015 and contains language changing the makeup of the district’s health care committee, annual raises based on longevity and a 2 percent salary increase each year.

The proposal also eliminates additional employee contributions for health care coverage on their spouses and children and changes the cost share of the health care contribution from a 50/50 split to the district eventually contributing 85 percent when the costs of the health care plan exceed the employee contributions.

Negotiations moved forward quickly after the school district presented an offer to the unions that followed most of an arbitrator’s recommendations after the two went into arbitration in December.

A sticking point — the makeup of the district’s health care committee — was resolved with three of the members of the committee now being appointed by the school district superintendent and any decisions issued by the committee requiring a super majority vote.

The contract still must be ratified by the unions and will be presented to the school board for approval as well. District spokeswoman Pegge Erkeneff said the contract would not go into effect until April at the earliest.

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Wrong on the yes men part. These same employees are covered by the same health insurance company so I doubt they will be yes men.
When you look at what other scholl districts throughout the state are getting, this one looks like a good deal.

draining this country dry? Hardly. We have an educational system so we are not a 3rd world country. Our most precious resource is our young people. We need to do whatever it takes to get back to being the best educated country again instead of further sliding down the scale.

I commend all in the ed system. Tough job and every couple of years the public gets to see what you make. I'd like to see that transparency with our elected offcials or those of you who conitinually trash talk the public school system.

I served on this very same Health Ins Committee for years & the person appointed by the Superintendent would Veto & vote against the majority of the committee members & their decisions. The Majority Vote did NOT Rule.The Superintendent's representative always had the final Veto Vote.
I sincerely hope that has changed & the Majority Vote of the committee members IS the Rule now ? I don't know ?

What a sweet deal for the teacher's at taxpayer's expense. A very liberal retirement package and the taxpayer paying for health insurance coverage for life. This is an ongoing liability that we have to fund, not just the short term during employment. I think that this group of workers, even though I admire them immensely for their labors, are being misrepresented by the union for the union's benefit. Soon, we will be just like California, broke.